


Hedy Gottlieb & Newton Geiszler

by crookedwitness



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, always-a-girl!Hermann, always-a-girl!Newton
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-19
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-01-05 04:04:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1089407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedwitness/pseuds/crookedwitness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some snippets of what life might've been like in the Shatterdome during, before and after the events of Pacific Rim had Hermann and Newton been female. Cause there are female scientists, people, and seeing them fight and grapple over everything would've been just as interesting as it was when they were male. (And really, Mako's the only central character who's female? And this is the future? Pah. I refuse to accept it.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dr. Hedy Gottlieb, Meet Newt

She was furious. But in Newt, fury took a slightly demented _I’ll show them_ tilt that didn’t exactly ever work out the way she wanted it to. And only one thing triggered Newt’s _oh they’ll regret that_ fury-- and that was realizing she’d been underestimated because of her sex.

So, in the flurry of planning just how to make them realize how fucking dumb and misogynistic and just God damned _short-sighted_ they were being, maybe, just maybe, Newton Geiszler did not factor in all of the relevant variables.

But she had a plan.

 

The plan involved greeting the helicopter with the mathematician the PPDC hired with that nitwit O’Briens. And so, Newt laid in wait until the grumpy-looking doctor shoved her way through the glass doors. Then she slid up next to her, as if this was all just a happy little coincidence. The woman was taller than Newt, but not by much, and everyone was taller than Newt. She was wearing an old man cardigan and trousers that reminded Newton of her great-grandfather’s grandfather, but the woman still had a peculiar... interestingness that made Newton almost think twice about what she was about to do. But instead she barreled ahead. Like usual.

“Hey!” she greeted the doctor as they scurried through the mostly-empty building. Newt almost extended her hand to shake, before remembering the cane and shoving the hand in her pocket. She was practically vibrating-- which wasn’t different from most of the time really-- only this time there was an edge of nerves worked into the miasma of passion and distraction and different strands of thought. “You’re Dr. Hedy Gottlieb, right?”

It was ten minutes before five in the morning, this was the third branch of her flight from England, and Hedy was unaccustomed to being confronted by energetic short women with dark hair three-quarters out of a rubber band and bright colors swirling up their arms. So she nodded. She later would realize that encouraging Newton Geiszler, even with mere nonverbal cues, was among the worst things she could do when she wanted to break away from the woman. No matter how discouraging she thought she could make the action, Newt would just take it as the encouragement she wanted to see.

“That’s great! I was reading your last paper about the Jaegers and their programming, and I think your theory about taking out the Kaiju with multiple, short bursts of--”

“Apologies, but who are _you?_ ” Hedy interrupted, voice low and measured in direct contrast with Newton’s high pitched, fast paced voice.

“Oh right. Yes, I’m Dr. Newton Geizler, you might have heard of me?” At Hedy’s sharp headshake _no,_ Newt continued. “Right, well, call me Newt. I’m a Kaiju scientist--”

“I was under the impression that the PPDC recently hired Ken O’Briens to fill the most recent K-science opening?” Hedy interrupted as the pair entered an elevator to bring them to the roof. She was already starting to understand that the only way to communicate with Newt Geiszler was to interrupt her mid-tangent and steer her back on track.

“Yeah, that _Schwachsinnige_ won’t last a month,” Newt grumbled, falling back against the cold metal of the elevator. She straightened quickly after though, and grinned at Hedy. “Hey, how long have you been working with the Jaegers and their programming anyway? I saw some stuff floating around about your dad starting up the program--”

“Yes, indeed,” Hedy interrupted, guiding the pair out of the elevator and assuming her new companion was to work under Ken O’Briens, but not very happy about it. With the stories she’d heard of the man, the sentiment wasn’t surprising. “I’ve been familiar with the programming from the initiation of the project.”

“That’s amazing!” Newt enthused, running a hand through the hair piling at her shoulders. It had been up this morning, hadn’t it? She shrugged off the thought and made a note to get it cut soon. “I sent a letter to your dad when this all started, but I never got a reply. Probably was too busy,” she chattered, stepping onto the chopper and settling into one of the seats before the officer outside the helicopter could say anything about an extra passenger. Hedy was batting away the officer’s hand, growling about how she could manage very well on her own, when Newt experienced her first true misgiving about this entire venture.

 Because she hadn’t even considered helping the woman get into the helicopter and didn’t that just show the kind of woman she was? Self-motivated, selfish, and arrogant as hell. She was just using this mathematician to get into the Shatterdome and argue her case and--

She wouldn’t like me anyway, Newt dismissed, turning to the exasperated mathematician settling into the seat next to her, intent to take up a conversation before one of the pilots or officers mentioned that anything was strange. “So, explain to me this new code you’re working on.”

“It’s highly unlikely you would understand--”

“C’mon, Hedy, try me--”

“My _name_ is Dr. Gottlieb--”

“Alright, _Doctor Gottlieb,_ try me--”

“It’s highly unlikely an untrained biologist would understand the intricacies of a cutting edge theory that is still in its nascency,” Hedy spat, turning away from the bright short woman.

And they spent the remainder of the trip arguing when they could be heard over the roar of the helicopter.

 

Touching down, the pair was silent. Hedy Gottlieb was considering the biologist, scrutinizing her in comparison to other colleagues, male and female, younger and older, and not coming to any real conclusions. Halfway through the trip by air, she noticed that the splotches of color on the shorter woman’s arms resolved themselves into Kaiju. It was just another piece of the puzzle that set her teeth on edge.

Newt was occupied with pumping herself up for the imminent inevitable confrontation.

The men in the aircraft had been in contact with the marshall by that time, Newton was sure, because they kept looking at her strangely. And these weren’t just the looks they’d sent before, when she and Hedy argued about the category system in place for classifying Kaiju, but a different kind. Almost an _are you a terrorist I’m going to have to worry about apprehending, and why, because you are the smallest, least intimidating terrorist ever if so_ kind of strange. It was a new experience for Newt, which was great, because she’d been thinking she’d experienced the full range of strange looks. Not so, apparently.

Newt insisted Hedy exit the aircraft first, which Hedy sneered at, mostly because she wanted to see the marshall while not being his center of attention. The man was imposing and taller than her, like just about everyone she’d met. So, par for the course. Newt could do this.

“Doctor Gottlieb,” the man intoned, voice deep and fluid. “Your arrival has been highly anticipated.”

“Why is that, Marshall Pentecost?” the mathematician asked, barely transforming the grimace from Newton’s latest comment into a more neutral expression in time to meet the man’s eyes.

“For your help with the coding, of course, as some technicians seem to have run into an unforeseen snag, but also because of the unexpectedness of your colleague,” the man said, turning his eyes smoothly onto Newton, who hopped out of the copter with an arrogant grin.

“Sorry, sir, but I had to tell you what I thought of your choice for head K-scientist in person,” Newton said, erring on the side of respect, although it was wildly against her instincts.

“Ah, Doctor Geiszler, I presume?” the marshall asked, extending a hand. Newt had a feeling it was more than ‘presuming.’ “I assure you, our choice was well-researched and-”

“Not well researched enough,” Newt replied, grabbing his hand a bit too tightly and shaking it fast once before letting go. “O’Reilly is great at applying other peoples’ knowledge, yeah, I’ll admit that much, but have you even looked at his own investigations into the Kaiju biology? It’s rampant speculation with negligible evidence to back it up.”

The marshall leaned back and narrowed his eyes at the woman in front of him who was practically hopping on her heels with passion. “You believe you’re better suited to the position?”

“Ye-es. I have six doctorates and am way more interested in figuring out what makes the Kaiju work than O’Reilly ever has been,” Newt replied, throwing her arms out palms up. “That’s why I jumped on a helicopter to Alaska in the first place.”

Newton had no idea what she’d see if she looked at the mathematician she’d argued with on the helicopter, so she didn’t look. It sounded like Hedy was choking, but the marshall and the array of officers weren’t reacting, so Newton decided the mathematician was probably healthy.

“We’ll see. Your confidence is encouraging, at the very least. We’ll put you on a two week probationary period, and if at the end you’ve convinced us, we’ll take you on for longer.” The marshall nodded at one of the soldiers who scurried off to take care of arrangements, presumably. “As you’re already acquainted with Dr. Gottlieb, you’ll be sharing her lab.” The marshall smiled at Newt, who gaped at him. Newt was almost completely sure that Marshall Pentecost knew that the only thing she wanted to do at the moment, besides work on deciphering the huge puzzle presented by the Kaiju, was get away from Dr. Gottlieb and forget that she ever kind of, maybe used the woman to get to the Shatterdome.

“Al- alright sir,” she managed after clearing her throat. “I’ll be sure to uh, let you know how things go.”

And that was both easier and harder than Newt had imagined it going in the center of the fury-cyclone in her head a week ago.


	2. Auspicious Beginnings Aside

A pair officers led Newton and Dr. Gottlieb down to the barracks, but the two separated shortly after exiting the elevator. Newton spent their time together studiously ignoring Dr. Gottlieb and thanked the mathematician silently for not saying anything either.

She would deal with that fiasco in the morning, or maybe sometime. Probably never.

Instead, she set to unpacking the small bag she’d packed and looped over her shoulder the night before. Her guitar was at home-- hard to bring luggage when they aren’t expecting you-- but her most important notebooks and a few pieces of clothing had fit perfectly in the sack, which at the time seemed to Newt to be the most important sign of all. _Obviously, this was meant to be,_ said the perfect fit.

Now, it said, _way to forget underwear, genius._ Newt just kept unpacking, mind racing with ideas about the Kaiju samples-- firsthand! uncontaminated by less careful hands!-- she’d be digging through the next day. In fact, she wished she’d asked where the lab she’d be sharing-- shudder, don’t think about that now-- because she’d really just like to start now.

In fact... Sleeping sounded more boring than just about any of her other options. Newt took note of her door, the doors surrounding it, and the hallway, hoped to remember her way back, and set off to explore the Shatterdome.

It was about a half hour into trailing around corridors that were all as bleak, grey and uniform as the last that she found the cafeteria. A man, “Tendo Choi, nice to meet you!” asked if she was lost, and she was, but she loved it. She told him as much and just got a pleasant laugh and a, “Well, okay, weirdo,” in exchange. She thought she could be friends with him, but just smiled and continued off to explore. Or, as it turned out, just get hopelessly lost until she finally found her way back to the cafeteria, where she could ask for a proper tour.

Tendo smiled. “I knew you’d be back,” was all he said before he offered her an arm. She scoffed and swatted it, skipping a few steps before having to stop to wait for Tendo to catch up. “You’re lucky I don’t sleep much. These halls will all look the same for a while.”

“How long’s a while, do you think?” Newt asked, tilting her head.

“At least two months,” Tendo replied, glancing at the ceiling and smirking.

“I bet you two weeks before I can figure out my way around here without help,” Newt countered, and it was the beginning of a really strange friendship.

 

Tendo eventually gave in and showed Newt to her lab -- “Marshall Pentecost did ask that--” “But I’m bored _now!”_ \-- instead of just giving her a quick tour and leading her back to her boring room. Newt found a rather more empty than full grey sterile area, probably big enough for two people, but not exactly a comfortable fit. Tendo left, saying something about how he’d be sure to collect on his bet in a few weeks, and Newt waved him off, already inspecting the crates that were plastered with warnings about biological and possibly hazardous materials.

She refrained from rubbing her hands together in manic glee until the door was shut firmly behind Tendo.

 

It was a few hours after she’d finished unloading everything from the boxes and poking around livers and intestines and making a mess of not only the floor but also her fancy I-need-to-impress-people clothes when Hedy finally appeared. Newt’s first instinct was to hop up and down and ask the other scientist if she could believe how awesome everything was, but that was quashed by the memory of the choking offended sounds the other woman made when it was revealed right of the helicopter that, uh yes, Newton was kind of using her to get her rightful job in a picky (and kind of stuck up) government facility.

So Newt instead leaned closer to her Kaiju stomach and wondered what the tissues of the organs containing the acid were made of. How did the cells keep the acid from leaking into other more delicate organs, or were all the organs made from the tough tissue? And if not, what could break those tissues? 

A glance up revealed Hedy staring at her with one hand on the ledge of a chalkboard and her eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you just ask for help?” Hedy asked, turning her face and eyes away. Had her voice been any less rough, Newt almost would’ve called the question compassionate.

“I--, well, why would--?” Newton asked, words for once not multiplying at rates she couldn’t control. Her mind-to-mouth filter seemed to switch from allowing everything through to completely blocking everything without her permission.

“You think you’re the only woman who’s had problems getting the recognition they deserved?” Hedy growled, stomping a few steps closer to Newt. Newt’s eyes ballooned and her head shook side to side more quickly than she’d meant it to.

“Er, well, no,” Newton finally managed, sliding her hands down her trousers and realizing for the first time that she’d managed to get some kind of goop on them as well as her blouse. “But you don’t really exude y’know-- empathy.”

Hedy stepped toward her desk. But instead of seeing unmarred wood and maybe a stack of paperwork she needed to fill out-- she was especially looking forward to the paperwork she’d need to fill out explaining how exactly an uncleared civilian managed to get on her helicopter-- she saw a meter of Kaiju large intestines. Or maybe it was small intestines, Hedy wasn’t completely sure, and neither did she care. 

“What. Is this?” she asked, clenching her fist around the handle of her cane and trying not to grit her jaw.

“What? Oh, that! That’s actually a really interesting abnormal sample of Kaiju-- riiiight, probably not interested. Um. I can move that.” Newt cleared her throat and did a strange dance before skipping around Hedy and sliding both palms under the intestine and stepped around the desks until she found a clear spot on one of her tables.

“I’m going to solve this sharing a lab problem,” Hedy growled, digging through a few drawers until she came upon the item she was looking for.  

She was complaining to Marshall Pentecost already? Well, that wouldn’t look great. “I don’t know what your problem is,” Newt sputtered, words finally pouring from her mouth like usual. “It was one time-- you’re duct taping the floor?” Newt asked, brought up short by the strange sight of the woman she barely knew lowering herself to her knees with a roll of grey duct tape.

“I’m demarcating sides,” Hedy spit back, barely sparing the other woman a glance. “It seems likely that without these precautions sharing this space will be unfeasible for the both of us.”

Newt muttered under her breath, _“unfeasible for the both of us,”_ but sulked off to examine the abnormal Kaiju intestines.

It seemed she and her labmate wouldn’t be getting along. And after such an auspicious beginning.


	3. Carpe Diem Baby

When Hedy Gottlieb tore through the door, ready to start her daily grouching at Newton, she wasn’t expecting to have so much.... material to argue about.

But Newton had indeed supplied her with a great deal of material.

 “What have you done!?” Hedy growled, stomp-thumping to Newton’s skinny jean-clad legs, which were flailing from underneath a particularly tall desk near the dividing line of the lab.

“Chill, chill, chill, Hed, jeez,” Newton muttered, seeming to twist around to lay on her back, if the calming and twirling of her lower body was any indication of her position. “I can’t find my _phone.”_

“Your phone?” Hedy repeated, turning and shaking her head at the rest of the lab. The lab that, when she’d left it four hours ago, empty of Newton, had been in its usual state. The usual state being a mess of Kaiju entrails and half finished cups of coffee, research papers, and other papers that Hedy generally made a priority not to look at. There was such a thing as knowing your labmate too well, and that went double when it came to Newton Geiszler.

However, in the past four hours, the mess had doubled and expanded over the dividing line that existed _solely to keep Newton’s mess on her side of the lab._

“Newton,” Hedy said between teeth clenched too tightly. “Why was it necessary, in your search for your phone, to litter my side of the lab with your... detritus?”

“Oh, uh, did I?” Newton popped her head out from underneath the desk, shaking her hair loose of stray eraser bits and a few crumbs. She frowned at the papers and three books littering the floor by Hedy’s desk.

Hedy sneered. “Well, it obviously wasn’t me!” 

Newton nodded, already looking away from the pile of papers on the other side of the line of duct tape and surveying her mess of a side. “Where could it be though?”

Hedy sighed and left Newton to her thoughts, shoving the pile back to Newton’s side. “I’m sure the expedition to the depths of your clutter will be a profitable endeavor, but if you could please keep your racket down while I’m working--”

“Racket?” Newton laughed, pulling herself up. “Seriously, dude, how old are you--”

“Dude?” Hedy sputtered, for what had to be the seventh time that week. (It was Tuesday.) “Why do you persist calling me-”

“Dude is a completely valid--”

“Ladies!” Marshall Pentecost strode through the door. “Has there been a single time I’ve walked through this lab and not found the pair of you embroiled in an argument?”

Hedy’s nose twitched as Newton answered, “Probably not, sir,” and flipped over a binder of notes highlighted in three different colors. “Oh! My phone!” she crowed.

Hedy turned to her chalkboard, away from the marshall, before rolling her eyes. She skimmed the last equation she’d jotted down before asking the marshall, “What brought you here, sir?”

Newton was muttering something about brown-nosers, but Hedy concentrated on the marshall. “I needed to discuss Dr. Geiszler’s two week probationary period,” Marshall Pentecost said, clasping his hands in front of him and staring at Newton, who almost dropped a vial of some fluid or another in her surprise.

Hedy turned to the chalkboard, ostensibly to return her stick of chalk, but really to hide her smile. “I’ll leave you, then,” she said, stalking to the door. She should’ve dropped by the canteen and grabbed breakfast and caffeine before getting to work anyway.

Newt made a series of strangled noises that due to their almost non-stop proximity for the past two weeks, Hedy translated easily into “goodbye.” 

 

Hedy took her time eating. She was mostly trying to work out in her mind whether she wanted Newton to get the permanent placement or not. She could tell, unfortunately, that Newton was indeed qualified for the position, but the woman’s manners and social skills were... wanting.

She cleaned up and returned to the lab, resigned that she would deal with the aftermath of either decision. Why she would need to “deal with” Newton’s termination of employment, she resolved not to think about.

“... and then he told me that “despite some reservations” they were “excited to see” where my work would take the PPDC and--.... Yeah! Yeah! I know.” Newton’s voice carried through the hall of the Shatterdome and Hedy took note of a few people in labs with open doors down the corridor that were exchanging smiles, although a few of the men, Hedy noted, looked aggrieved. She shut the door behind her after walking into the lab, sending Newton a half amused smile herself.

“Alright, I’m going. I’ll talk to you later. Yes, yes, I know. Bye. Byeeee. Bye.” Newton shut her phone with a grin that made Hedy realize Newton’s other smiles must be fake. Because apparently, when Newton Geiszler was honestly happy, her smile was more of a beaming expression that took over her whole face.

“I take it you’re continuing your work here, then?” Hedy questioned, returning to her chalkboard.

“Right! Although apparently Tendo’s been telling the marshall I need to eat regular meals or something. I’ll deal with that later.” Newt drummed on the only clean table she had left on her side of the lab and whistled. “I hadn’t even realized it’d been two weeks.”

“You should’ve. O’Briens has been loitering at our lab door more and more often recently,” Hedy replied, running her eyes over her last few equations to reacquaint herself with where she left off the night before.

“Really? Which one is he? Big head with blonde hair?” Newt asked, spinning around to rifle through some papers under one of her desks. “Glasses?”

“No, not at all,” Hedy replied, almost appalled by the other woman’s disregard for her coworkers and their names. It was only almost because she’d been slowly growing accustomed to the other woman’s habitual awfulness. “He’s tall, with sideburns and a mustache.”

“Hmm. Don’t remember him,” Newton grumbled, still shuffling through papers.

“Of course not. Do you even know anyone in the Shatterdome besides myself, Marshall Pentecost and Mr. Choi?”

Newt yanked a few papers free of the pile, beaming still. “Of course! I know... Li... Sa?”

“Lisa?” Hedy asked, scowling. “The magical woman you just made up to prove your own point?”

“Well. Maybe not so magical, yeah?” Newton said, clearing her throat and consistently avoiding eye contact with Hedy. “She’s. She works in the...” Newt deflated. “Alright! I don’t know anyone else. But I’m becoming very familiar with the afterhours janitorial staff.”

Hedy smirked and raised an eyebrow, making sure Newton saw, before turning back to her chalkboard. “You joke about my social ineptitude, but--”

Newton huffed, “Yes, yes, I know, I’m not much better. Congratulations, Doctor Hedy Gottlieb, you’ve ruined the best day of my week.”

But when Hedy turned around ten minutes later to check part of the code for the new line of Jaegers, Newton was humming along to a Metallica song and smiling as widely as ever.


	4. The Gossip Mill, Tendo Choi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably add that I've not read the novelization, so some things are pretty much not going to line up with that canon so well. (You've probably realized that if you've read this far though.) And Tendo's a character I didn't really see much about in the movie, so if he's characterized like, at all in the books, my version of him is probably going to be different.

Two weeks after her introduction to Dr. Hedy Gottlieb, the Shatterdome, and Tendo Choi, Newton Geiszler was officially granted the position of K-science officer. The marshall, unlike some men, looked completely at ease admitting she was a better fit for employment than his original choice, and Newt was positively ecstatic. She did her best to cloak that with professional words and fake calm, but she was pretty sure the marshall could see she just wanted to dance around and get drunk in celebration.

After she did dance around the lab a little, she found Tendo, in his natural habitat in front of the computers, and asked him, “So, where does a girl go for a celebratory drink around here?”

Tendo, in her short acquaintance with him, always seemed to know everything about Newt before she could tell him, so it wasn’t surprising that instead of asking what she was celebrating, he told her, “There’s a bar not far into town. It’s cold getting there, but it’s fucking Alaska.”

“Gimme directions?” Newt asked, figuring a buddy to go with was too much to ask after two weeks of a handful of short conversations in passing.

“Nah, you can buy me a round as pay back for losing our bet,” Tendo replied, smiling. “Meet me by the lab in an hour?”

It took Newt three stressful seconds to remember the bet they'd made while she was still giddy with the idea of digging through real Kaiju entrails. “Oh! Sure. But if I’d left the lab more than four times in the past two weeks, I totally would’ve won,” Newt replied, grinning as widely as she’d been ever since Marshall Pentecost came into the lab with the news. She left to change clothes and grab some money.

Newt shed her customary white button up and exchanged it for a worn-thin cotton t-shirt with the green lantern symbol and a grey zip up hoodie. She wasn’t going to be making many good impressions, but she was more interested in finally being _comfortable._ Also the rest of her clothes hadn’t arrived yet, so it was this or her version of business professional. Which, granted, would not be too fancy for a bar run.

She met Tendo outside the lab. She wasn't surprised that he was still in his bow tie and suspenders. Newt ducked into the lab, meaning to tell Hedy goodbye, but chickened out when the other woman sent her a withering glare. Instead, she pretended she needed something from one of her desk drawers and ducked out again with a wave she was sure Hedy didn't catch anyway.

Some markets had taken major hits with the Kaiju, and not all were literal collisions with Kaiju acid or destruction. Even though there were still a few cinemas here and there, people didn’t much go to the movies anymore. But the bars were still flourishing, probably worldwide, Newt figured. The one Tendo guided her to was definitely having no trouble attracting customers.

Tendo finagled a couple out of their booth in the back corner of the bar while Newt grabbed a beer for each of them. She wasn’t really interested in beer-- vodka was more fun-- but neither did she want to stumble into the lab the next morning unable to deal with the volume of her own arguments with Hedy.

“Thanks,” Tendo said with a grin, raising his glass to her and taking a drink. “Wasn’t sure if I’d actually get my returns on this bet of ours.”

“I always follow through with my end of a bet!” Newt replied, scandalized, and swallowed a gulp of her own beer.

“Yeah?” Tendo asked, eyes flitting around the bar. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Newt shook her head with a smile and let the silence lie. She’d usually burst into an unrequested lecture on exactly what her code of honor was when it came to bets and her word as a scientist, but instead she was remembering she needed to add the bit about the pH levels of the stomach to the report due to Marshall Pentecost the next day and thinking about bouncing more ideas off of Hedy when she got back the next morning.

“How are you liking the Shatterdome so far?” Tendo asked. Newt forced herself back to the present and remembered that although she and Hedy frequently flouted all conventional rules of conversation, the rules were there, and some pauses in conversation got really weird in crowded bars if you didn’t fill them with noise.

“Oh, well, yeah. Haven’t gotten out of the lab much, but the lab’s really the part of the Shatterdome I’m most likely to enjoy anyway. The lab’s great. Food’s eh.” Newt grinned and continued. “Hedy’s... A fucking disaster. But I’d be lying if I said I hated it.”

“Hated the Shatterdome or your weird ass relationship with Dr. Gottlieb?” Tendo asked, watching Newt’s finger tracing patterns on her glass.

Newt grinned when Tendo caught her ambiguity. “Both, actually.” 

“So are you two, uh..?” He flourished a hand, and Newt took pity on him instead of teasing him about his inability to ask simple questions like she usually would.

Newt shook her head with another, wider grin. “Nah. You interested, bow tie?”

Tendo smiled and leaned over the table. “Only in the gossip, Geiszler.”

Newt smiled and shook her head. “How will I survive without your attention, Choi?” she asked in return before slapping her hand flat on the table. “I should’ve known that you were the main hub for gossip around the Shatterdome though. That first night, you knew way too much.”

Tendo mock bowed. “I live to pass on information. It’s a thankless existence.”

“Oh sure,” Newt replied, shoving her bangs out of her eyes. “You don’t enjoy it at all.”

“But you and Dr. Gottlieb will give me material for months to come,” Tendo said, leaning back in his booth. “Man, I’m getting another beer. Want one?”

Newt shook her head and took a few more deep drinks of her beer while he was gone, considering her relationship with Hedy from the outside. She was the only one so far at the Shatterdome allowed to call the scientist by her given name, which had only happened through almost ceaseless badgering on her part, and was supposed to be only in the privacy of their own lab with the two alone. Newt slipped up more often than not.

And she was the only one who Hedy would call by their first name. Although “Newt” would take absolutely years to coax out of the stubborn woman. And Newt was pretty sure the only reason the other woman relaxed to Newton was so she had two less syllables to screech countless times every day.

It was pretty weird, probably, she figured, draining the rest of her beer and shifting to rest her back against the wall and sprawl her legs out on the bench beside her. She liked weird, though.

When Tendo returned, she made sure to regale him with her best stories from MIT and home. She wanted to make sure that the rumor mill got it right-- Newton Geiszler was a fuckin rock star.

She would be very disappointed to realize that the gossip mills were more than satisfied with her daily battles with Hedy Gottlieb-- her stories from her schooldays never made it past Tendo’s ears.


	5. Firsts with Hedy Gottlieb

The first time Hedy Gottlieb considered Newton Geiszler anything more than a pest determined to work her way into every facet of her life was two months after the women started working together.

“Yo, brought you some tea,” Geiszler muttered, maneuvering the door to their lab with her feet, a mug in each hand. “The teabag’s probably been in too long by now, I got a bit distracted with Tendo in the hallway, but you probably like your tea gross, black and strong anyway,” she continued, setting the red mug on her own desk and coming to stand at the very edge of the tape separating their lab in two.

“Well?” Hedy asked, assuming the woman was expecting some sort of thanks for her unrequested help and completely prepared to outline the reasons she wouldn’t thank Geiszler for something she very well could have managed herself, thank you very much--

 Geiszler raised an eyebrow. “I’m requesting permission to cross the border of our territories, dude. If you don’t want the tea, just say so.” Geiszler grinned at Hedy’s suddenly lax face. “Did you think I was standing here for funsies?”

Geiszler left the mug on a table that was arguably on Hedy’s side, but close enough that neither woman had yet quibbled over whose it was. Since Geiszler’s untouched paperwork was on one end of the table and a few pages of Hedy’s latest code on the other, it seemed likely a battle would erupt soon.

But not yet, Hedy realized, approaching the table to pick up the tea. She smelled it-- yes, black tea, probably Earl Grey, and definitely over-steeped-- and walked it back to the desk closer to her blackboard. She tossed out the tea bag, took a sip-- eugh, definitely too strong-- and set it down to continue scrawling on the chalk board.

She decidedly did not thank Newton Geiszler for the tea. It wasn’t very good and she hadn’t wanted it anyway.

 

They were in Newton’s room, Hedy pressing Newton into the door. Hedy pulled her lips away from Newton’s, meaning to ask, _should we be doing this right now are you sure--_ but instead Newton moaned, needy, and latched her recently abandoned lips onto Hedy’s neck, sending a rush of warmth down Hedy’s body but still managing to cloud her mind-- _there’s something not right here what’s--_

Newton’s hands gripped at her sweater, pulling the excess together at her hips, yanking their bodies closer together. Her lips were rough, as rough as the rest of her seemed, shoved up against Hedy’s neck. Hedy’s skin slid between her teeth, just a nip, and Hedy gasped, that warmth deepening. Her hands landed on Newton’s shoulders, her hands smoothing down the slope of the plain button up to grab at Newton’s elbows, nails digging into the flesh--

Her first fantasy of Newton Geiszler crept into her dreams a year and a half into their acquaintance. She woke up sweating, aroused, and angry. But she wasn’t sure if she was angry at Newton for teasing her that morning-- _I should rip that grandpa sweater right off you--_ or herself for losing control.

She slid off for a cold shower and then threw herself back into her math. The next night she gave in and slid her hand down her stomach, closing her eyes and trying not to think of Newton. She wasn't successful, and she came imagining arms dancing with colors pinning her wrists above her head, that inexhaustible smirk turned on full power looming inches over her.

 

Hedy kissed Newt to shut her up at their third Shatterdome together. They never mention it.

It was around four in the morning, one of the nights Hedy promised herself she was staying up to get more work done and definitely not just to make sure her mad co-worker didn’t kill herself. 

It was around her fifth cup of coffee when Newton began mumbling under her breath. Hedy ignored her for a few minutes, until the volume started to rise and she started pacing more rapidly. “Maybe,” Newton was saying, “one day we could use the Drift process to do things other than kill-- like what if there was some way to get clean energy from it? Or what if we could use the Jaegers to clean up environmental spills?”

Hedy scribbled a note in the margins of her paper to keep her thoughts on track and shuffled to the edge of her side of the lab. She leaned her good hip against a table closer to Newt. “Why are you thinking about after the Kaiju when you love them so much?”

Newt scowled, stopping to scribble something on an old report that likely had nothing to do with the report and that she’d never be able to find when she needed it. “Jesus Christ, Hed, I’m not in love with the Kaiju. I just know that they’re more interesting than studying the rate of fungi growth in different environments or the amino acids in different species of turtles. Everything that’s not boring as fuck has been studied to death and back.”

“You tattooed monsters on your body because they were interesting?” 

Newt’s face revealed that she was disgusted that Hedy went five years into their acquaintance without correcting this dreadful misconception. Hedy thought that it was definitely a sign they needed to save this world _now_ if she was reading Newton Geiszler’s nuanced facial expressions so quickly and easily.

“It’s like you don’t even listen to me!” Newton began. Sometimes, just by the exuberance of Newton’s hand gestures, Hedy could tell how long a rant would go on. Others, she was completely taken by surprise by. It was frustrating. But this time, the swooping arms and clenched fingers suggested a very lengthy lecture.

Hedy never particularly enjoyed Newton’s rants-- although sometimes she did learn more than she liked to admit when it came to biology, in general and Kaiju-specific. Coming into the Shatterdome, she never imagined sharing a lab with a biologist, let alone one as unable to keep personal boundaries as Newton Geiszler.

But she always listened. And she couldn’t help herself from cutting off this rampage before it began. “I listen to every infernal monologue you go off on,” Hedy sneered, before wondering whether or not she should really alert Newton to the full extent of how much attention Hedy paid her.

Luckily for her, Newton scoffed and strode away. “Well, then, it’s like you listen but you don’t make the right connections. Why would I find the Kaiju’s weak points if I loved them? Last week’s takedown went down so much faster--”

Newton was whirled around by the shoulder-- she hadn’t even noticed Hedy moving-- and the other woman was kissing her-- and whoa if _that_ wasn’t wildly out of the bounds of anything she ever thought the mathematician in her thick sweaters and corduroy pants would ever be interested in--

Hedy was never quite sure what she was thinking. But she knew the motivations behind the kiss-- they were the same ones that popped up the previous forty-three times she’d almost kissed her colleague. It wasn’t a combination she would ever be able to explain in words, but it was a strange mix of contempt and fondness that always moved her just past the bounds of platonic friendship. Only this time, she hadn’t restrained herself in time, hadn’t pulled back.

When they did finally part, Hedy took great care not to look at Newton’s face. “I apologize,” she forced out instead, straightening her back and tapping her cane against the floor. “Ah, I assure you, it will not happen again.”

She left the lab as sedately as she could. Since she wasn’t _Newton Geiszler,_ she managed pretty well. Her walk noticeably quickened however, as soon as the door to their shared lab shut behind her.

_Dear God, what have I done?_

 

The next morning, Hedy slipped into the lab noiselessly at ten. Much later than usual, but even Hedy Gottlieb occasionally succumbed to pedestrian habits such as avoiding people after awkward situations. She avoided glancing at the other side of the lab for a few minutes, not sure what she was dreading. What, would Newton Geiszler, the woman who weathered out countless complaints submitted to Marshall Pentecost, the woman who manipulated her way into the Shatterdome via Hedy’s chopper, have left because of a slip of a kiss from her unsavory colleague?

Part of Hedy screamed yes. But the glance up revealed the lab in the same condition it had been when Hedy left the night before, besides the conspicuous absence of Dr. Geiszler.

Hedy cleared her throat and shuffled the papers she was working on the night before. This would be fine. Maybe Newton would complain to the marshall, Hedy would explain she had misread signals, apologize, maybe go through a sexual harassment seminar, and Newton would just add this fiasco to her arsenal against Hedy.

That thought provoked a wince from Hedy. Somehow, thinking about Newton dropping the indiscreet kiss in the middle of one of their regular arguments felt... Wrong.

She’d worry about it later. They had a planet to save. There were equations to run. There were just things to do.

Hedy Gottlieb finally succeeded in pushing Newton Geiszler out of her mind.

 

When Newt flew into the lab, it was usually a flutter of “hey, how are you, ah, yes, I know, you’re _mathy,”_ and other half-interested queries into the status of Hedy’s life since the last time they’d co-habited the lab. As if her life was interesting enough to ask about three hour gaps.

At first this had frustrated Hedy to no end. But it was comfortable now. It wasn’t that Newton was rude, she just knew she was supposed to say something and didn’t have the concentration around the temptation Kaiju bits afforded her to actually pay attention to Hedy’s replies.

Today, though, the other woman merely opened the door silently and approached her work desk to flick through some paperwork. She didn’t ask Hedy how she was doing, say anything disparaging about her wardrobe (or last night), or even glance at her labmate.

Hedy could deal with that. Although she rather hoped their communications would be restored eventually, because both of their intellectual endeavors had been reinvigorated, in ways, by their discussions--

“God, quit thinking so loudly, Gottlieb,” Newton muttered from the other side of the lab, slashing a pen through the line of paperwork she was filling out. “I can’t work with that damn racket.”

And although the return to Gottlieb, rather than Hedy or Hed or any of Newton’s other dreadful nicknames, stabbed at Hedy in an uncomfortably intimate way, Hedy was slightly comforted. If Newton couldn’t go ten minutes without lashing out, even in a new way, then there was some hope for their professional relationship at least.

“I’m serious. If you don’t quit ignoring your numbers over there, I’m going to be compelled to strangle you on their behalf. You’re not helping me with all of this damn bureaucracy speak, so you might as well do something useful,” Newton said, and though she was turned away from Hedy, Hedy could tell she was working not to smile.

Hedy could deal with this.


	6. Firsts with Newton Geiszler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newton Geiszler's notable firsts with one Doctor Gottlieb.

Newton was fraying, cracking at the edges. She could feel it. Feel the entropy, the stress weighing her down. She couldn’t quit thinking about the Kaiju-- but this was in a different way. Different different different.

Because now she couldn’t quit thinking about how hopelessly outmatched they were. The Kaiju had points of vulnerability, yes, but each type seemed to have less and less, and the ones they did have were better protected, harder to get to, and less obvious.

They were either evolving, way too fucking quickly, or the more complex ones were finally growing interested in the fight.

 Both thoughts gave Newt the creeps and kept her awake at night, staring at her ceiling, wondering what the fuck she was ever going to be able to do in this war.

At first, the PPDC was just the obvious choice. She wanted to study the Kaiju, get up close, and if she could help the war efforts, why the hell not? She was a biologist, so she wanted to study these creatures. But she was also human and didn’t want to die. 

But surely enough, as the other scientists left, to be with their families as long as they possibly could, broke under the pressure, or were fired because of lack of funds... The worry started mounting.

It probably said a lot about Newt that she didn’t start worrying about the future until everyone else showed her she should be frightened by cracking or giving up.

She could push most of the worry away though. Hide it under loud as fuck music, petty arguments with Hedy, manic flights around the Shatterdome to get food, bother Tendo, taunt the newbie rangers... But then there were days like this one when no matter what she did that deep pounding bass of _you’re not good enough/we’re all gonna die/you’re not good enough/we’re all gonna die ((screaming))_ would not be drowned out by anything--

And those days were the ones she didn’t let herself go to sleep, didn’t bait Hedy unnecessarily (although if something came up that she had to bait Hedy about she’d still do it, but she wouldn’t enjoy it as much), barely ate... And it was four in the morning, she’d had at least seven cups of coffee, and Hedy was in the corner of the lab scribbling on paper instead of board for once and the words just exploded out of Newt like they always were going to.

“Even after the Kaiju are gone, we’re gonna have a lot of problems. The entire west coast of the US is gonna have to deal with massive consequences from Kaiju Blue, and then there’s all the rebuilding of cities still. Our environment’s still gonna be a mess-- but...” Newt paused, rubbing her forehead. Did she still have advil in the lab? No, she’d finished the bottle last week.

“Maybe one day we could use the Drift process to do things other than kill--like what if there was some way to get clean energy from it? Or what if we could use the Jaegers to clean up environmental spills?” Newt was just jabbering, trying to keep her mind on the future, after-Kaiju-- because that would happen, that could happen, that would happen.

Then Hedy was moving, stopping her scribbling and approaching. “Why are you thinking about after the Kaiju when you love them so much?”

Newt didn’t even consider telling Hedy why she was thinking about after the Kaiju. The other woman was so self-possessed and calm. It wasn’t like she’d understand. Instead, she diverted the question. “Jesus Christ, Hed, I’m not in love with the Kaiju. I just know that they’re more interesting than studying the rate of fungi growth in different environments or the amino acids in different species of turtles. Everything that’s not boring as fuck has been studied to death and back.”

“You tattooed monsters on your body because they were interesting?” Hedy asked, sounding genuinely interested and only a fraction of how judgmental she usually was. 

Still, gross. Hedy shared a lab with Newt for five years without realizing how fucking complex the reasons behind Newt’s tattoos were? She thought something dumb like Newt got the tattoos on a whim or because they were _interesting?_

“It’s like you don’t even listen to me!” Newton just last week monologued to Hedy about how even things like gender in their society were multifaceted and how nothing, when you looked at it the right way, was fucking simple at all-- and Hedy goes and says something like ‘you got tattoos of the exterminators of the human race _because they were interesting.’_

But before she could so much as put her argument into words, Hedy spat, “I listen to every infernal monologue you go off on.” And Newt couldn’t exactly disagree-- that was why she hadn’t put in to the marshall for a transfer. There were still a few other scientists at this Shatterdome, but having Hedy to rant at was nice. She listened and would fight if she disagreed.

Hedy might have been listening, but-- “Well, then, it’s like you listen but you don’t make the right connections. Why would I find the Kaiju’s weak points if I loved them? Last week’s takedown went down so much faster--”

And Newt was spinning-- why was she spinning? And Hedy’s hand was on her shoulder, her face was way closer-- and Newt’s eyes slid shut because she’d never felt comfortable with kissing people with her eyes open

and holy shit god fuck all. she was kissing Hedy Gottlieb.

Before she could really sink into the kiss like it deserved, however, Hedy was pulling away, muttering something about an apology and it never happening again and stalking off in an entirely too dignified way.

Newt squawked five minutes after the door shut behind Hedy. Because she’d never imagined the mathematician in her bulky sweaters and corduroy pants would ever do that.

 She started at the door, determined to tell Doctor Hedy Gottlieb just how much she never had to promise not to repeat that, and in fact demand that she break that promise immediately before Newt’s thoughts caught up with her.

Hedy had obviously done it on a whim and were either of them really ready for a relationship? Newt was up at four in the morning, tearing apart Kaiju desperately hoping the world wasn’t ending. Hedy appeared more put together to the world and was more put together than Newt, doubtlessly. But. What good would dating Newt do Hedy?

Newt grabbed her iPod, earbuds, blasted her music, and returned to her Kaiju samples. If the world didn’t end, she’d be able to deal with that kiss then.

As it was, she was too close to vibrating to pieces to commit herself to dealing with another person’s problems as well as her own and the world’s.

 

But just because Newt hadn’t known Hedy would ever be interested in her didn’t mean she hadn’t been interested in the grumpy mathematician. In fact, she’d been interested much longer than she realized. But when she did realize, it had been because of her own inability to filter her thoughts before speaking them. Which was actually a great thing, because since she’d joined the PPDC the amount of time she’d had for introspection had plummeted and she’d probably not have realized it until that kiss if she hadn’t blurted out something more embarrassing than usual.

“Man, today your wardrobe is particularly horrid,” Newt commented as Hedy crossed to her chalkboard from the door. Newt was on hour thirty-one since her last nap, and her mind-to-mouth filter was more eroded by caffeine and sleep deprivation than usual. “I should rip that grandpa sweater right off of you,” she continued.

Hedy cast her a glare that would positively terrify the rookie rangers training a few floors away. Newt cackled and returned to her Kaiju guts. She was finally getting somewhere and it was beautiful.

It wasn’t until later, when the caffeine and the thrill of discovery wore down, that she realized what she said and the implications and realized _oh shit. I would’ve loved to rip that sweater off of her and--_

 

Everything Hedy did, said, or seemed to imply with her eyebrows began to set off Newt’s libido. She ended up running out of the lab super inconspicuously at least once a week. 

Her body calmed down when it became distracted by another interesting Kaiju sample, and then when it realized that nothing was changing on the Hedy front it seemed content to make Newt unable to function without masturbating only once every other week or so. 

 

It was strange that the trigger that switched Newt’s feelings for Hedy from _uncomfortable lust_ to _actual affection_ was an overheard conversation in the hallway. Newt had been limping out of the lab-- earlier that week she’d slammed her leg into one of the newer tables in the lab and damn had that hurt-- 

“Would you like some help, Dr. Gottlieb?” a deep, unfamiliar voice asked down the hall. Newt fell against the wall she was passing and trying so hard not to lean against. Well, she was tired. If Hedy and the stranger caught her leaning against the wall she would be able to truthfully say that she hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. Just rest.

When did she last sleep actually? That was a good question with how fucking winded she was by limping her way from the lab.

“No,” Hedy hissed. Newt could’ve predicted that. The mathematician hated help. “I’m perfectly capable of walking a cup of coffee to my lab.”

“Coffee?” the man asked. Newt recognized her colleague’s beleaguered sigh from however-many-hallways away. “I thought you were more of a tea person.”

Aha. This must be the ranger Tendo was telling Newt about. Apparently, he had a huge nerd-crush on Hedy. Newt had laughed, because it was funny, some newb ranger thinking he had a chance with the grumpy numbers genius, but it was also annoying. Hedy was her socially inept, old person-dressing... Labmate nerd-crush. Damn it.

There was a pause. Newt wondered if it was Hedy realizing how fucking weird it was that this guy knew she was a tea person or if it was the beginning of a romcom gag-worthy her-eyes-staring-into-his-eyes scene that would turn into a ten minute long snogging session--

“I. Yes, quite. Coffee’s terrible. My labmate, Dr. Geiszler, however, was falling asleep into her Kaiju guts when I left, so I thought it prudent to grab her a cup.”

 No gross make out scenes then. Newt automatically generated a “no I was not falling asleep in Kaiju guts” retort and then shelved it. It was pretty good. Next time Hedy insinuated something so ridiculous, she’d have one lined up.

“You guys close then?” the man asked. There was immediately impatient cane tapping.

“You _have_ talked to people in the Shatterdome, yes?” Hedy asked. “We don’t get along so much as restrain ourselves from tearing each other apart.”

“Yeah, I thought you guys hated each other. Why’re you bringing her coffee then?” he asked.

 Newt wondered the same thing about their relationship sometimes. She mostly ignored her own questions though. How would Hedy...?

Hedy sniffed. “Little things ease our labmate relationship.”

The man laughed. Newt weighed her options. How awkward would it be to walk by them now? She was tired, they were boring. Would they be able to tell she’d been--?

“It must get pretty annoying sharing space with such an attention whore,” the man said agreeably.

Newton continued weighing her options for a moment before-- _what?!_

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Hedy said, almost too quietly for Newton to hear. 

“Attention whore? You know. All that shit she does. It’s got to just be ‘cause she wants people to look at her.”

Newton slid a few inches back toward her lab. Usually, she would stomp up to this guy and demand to know how many men he would call an attention whore for _being themfuckingselves_ , but she was tired, not supposed to be eavesdropping, and not completely in the mood to get into an argument that would make her progressively more angry during the fighting and then just even angrier later when she was thinking about how pointless it was to argue with people already so dedicated to seeing nothing wrong and never fucking empathizing--

But then Hedy cleared her throat. Newton stilled. She actually did want to hear what her labmate would say.

“I’m sorry you think I would approve of you calling anyone something like that, let alone a woman you don’t even know and who I work with on a regular basis. Doctor Geiszler is a very accomplished Kaiju Scientist and has helped many of your co-workers kill Kaiju quicker and more efficiently, thus saving lives. If you can’t respect that, I think we’re done speaking.”

Newt slipped back into their shared lab without a sound-- a feat, for her, really-- and smiled at the Kaiju samples she had just finished putting away for the day.

When Hedy came in a few minutes later, still rage-flushed, and slammed the mug of coffee on Newton’s table on her way to her chalkboard, Newton muttered thanks and hid her face in her paperwork.

Hedy was rightfully confused by her labmate doing paperwork without being scolded into it, but didn’t comment.

Newt didn’t realize till weeks later that her _oh yeah wear that cardigan_ thoughts had become less frequent while her _do you think she likes me I don’t think she likes me she probably doesn’t like me_ thoughts began sky rocketing.

And then Stacker Pentecost found Raleigh Becket. And Newton quit thinking _does she like me_ and started thinking _the world is gonna fucking end if you don’t pull your shit together._


End file.
